BRANDO SIMEO STARKEY writes for ESPN (hat tip):
Rookies selected in the 2016 NFL draft have hit the practice fields in preparation for their first preseason games this month. The league’s scouts, meanwhile, are already preparing for next year, scouring university campuses for background information on new prospects. Trainers, tutors, even the waitress at a player’s favorite restaurant — all attract the scout’s eye as potential reservoirs of good dirt.
Despite that thorough sleuthing, though, anecdotal evidence and academic studies suggest that the league’s evaluation process is riddled with racial bias. It’s not explicit, where teams purposely treat black prospects one way and whites another. Instead, the draft is warped by implicit racial bias, as scouts and coaches evaluate players without being aware of the unconscious racial attitudes and stereotypes rummaging through their brains.
An associate director of player personnel at a Power 5 conference school who asked not to be named, provides a common example: Scouts assume that black players hail from single-parent households “unless we tell them otherwise,” he said.
“If they come in initially, and they want to know about a junior for next year,” they assume a black player has no relationship with his father, he said. About one black prospect, scouts asked, “Who should we talk to? Should we talk to his brother? Should we talk to his mom? Should we talk to his grandma? Should we talk to his high school coach?”
Should we talk to his father? That question went unasked. Yet, when dealing with a similar white prospect, scouts inquired, “Should we get both [mom and dad] in the same room at the same time? How should we approach?”
Similarly, when ascertaining potential substance abuse issues, scouts ask different questions for white and black players.
About whites, “They want to know if he’s a drinker,” he said. “How many times does he go out a week?” is a common question. They “never” ask if a white player failed drug tests.
Yet, “when they talk about a black player: ‘Has he failed any drug tests?’ ‘Is he a smoker?’ You know, things like that. Some scouts will be like, ‘We have a couple on our team and we don’t need to put another one in the locker room. That’s just going to ignite that flame again.’ ”
The associate director said he believes scouts behave “unconsciously,” discerning no racial bias in their queries. And “it’s not like it’s just white scouts saying it. It’s black scouts as well.”
…Yet, many NFL front offices see no systemic problem.
“Exceptionally good,” said Bill Polian, retired Hall of Fame general manager for the Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts, when asked to gauge how well the NFL, as a whole, drafts. “The vast majority of players in the first, second, and third rounds make teams. Some contribute more than others, but there are mitigating factors involved there. Coaching changes, system changes, injury, which is by far the biggest mitigating factor, which, to date, no one can predict.”
